Why Honors at Mines?

Honors at Mines sets you apart.
When people see the words “Honors” on your CSM transcript or resume, they want to know more. Honors at Mines tells employers that you have special potential – that you’re exceptionally talented, highly motivated, and well informed. Perhaps more importantly, Honors at Mines indicates that you’re versatile, open-minded, capable of tackling new challenges, and an effective communicator: key skills that employers seek when they recruit scientists and engineers from Mines. For students who complete the McBride Honors Program, the “Honors Minor” on your transcript highlights your superior academic performance and spotlights your valuable communication skills.

Honors at Mines develops your skills.

In today’s environment especially, employers are desperate to hire people with solid engineering and technical skills who can also write clearly and think critically. Indeed, numerous CEOs of technical firms, such as Lockheed Martin’s Norm Augustine, have written passionate pleas about the importance of developing those skills through the study of liberal arts subjects like History. As Augustine wrote in the Wall Street Journal: “In my position as CEO of a firm employing over 80,000 engineers, I can testify that most were excellent engineers—but the factor that most distinguished those who advanced in the organization was the ability to think broadly and read and write clearly.” Scientists and engineers with strong communication skills often find they advance more quickly than their peers.

Honors at Mines enriches your life.

Most students join the program because they want a broad-ranging education. They excel in math and science, but they want to do more – they want to explore the world in all its facets, with all its marvelous complexity. When you join us you’re joining a community of like-minded students who share your values and your interests. You’ll form lifelong friendships and enjoy a supportive community of teachers and students who will help you thrive!

You’ll benefit from professors who know you well and who will go the extra mile to help you out. Honors students at Mines enjoy small classes that are focused on discussion, independent learning, and critical thinking – and taught by some of the most dedicated and inspiring teachers at Mines.

Honors at Mines prepares you for graduate school.

If you’re serious about pursuing postgraduate education,the McBride Honors Program is the place for you. More than a third of all McBride students go on to some form of postgraduate education, including in law, medicine, science, and engineering. The program will help develop your skills at researching, reading, writing, and critical thinking – which are not only essential to your success in graduate school, they will help you get in to a top graduate school.

Honors at Mines unlocks opportunities.

Honors helps students pursue extraordinary educational opportunities – such as study abroad programs, internships in the U.S. or abroad, volunteer programs, intensive language programs, research programs such as REUs, public policy internships in Washington, D.C., and other deserving activities. The McBride Honors Program also offers Honors Enrichment Grants to help you do these things, and it provides special awards for top-performing students from the junior and senior classes – those who demonstrate the best in academic performance and leadership qualities.

Our alumni tell the story for us.

Don’t take our word for it, though. Ask our alumni. They’ll tell you that McBride was the highlight of their time at Mines. They’ll tell you that they valued the friendships and camaraderie of the small seminars. They’ll tell you that McBride opened their eyes, that it helped them deal with difficult situations, that it helped them become entrepreneurs, that it taught them how to research complex problems, and that it gave them leadership skills. Don't just take our word for it. Here's more on what our graduates have been accomplishing: Friends & Grads.